kingdom · British Isles
Kingdom of York
Origins
The Great Heathen Army captured York in 866 to 867, and in 876 Halfdan shared out the land of Northumbria south of the Tees among his followers. Danish kings ruled from York, with Guthfrith in the 880s accepting Christianity. Early in the 10th century the Norse dynasty of the Kingdom of Dublin took over.
Rule and society
Jorvik grew into a major town of craftsmen and traders, with goods from Scandinavia to the Middle East, as the Coppergate excavations show. Its kings minted coins, some with Christian symbols, and cooperated with the archbishops of York. Scandinavian settlement left hundreds of place-names across Yorkshire.
Decline and legacy
Aethelstan seized York in 927, but Norse kings such as Olaf Guthfrithson, Amlaib Cuaran and Eric Bloodaxe returned repeatedly. Eric's expulsion and death in 954 ended the kingdom, and York became part of the Kingdom of England as an earldom.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (3)
- Kingdom of York in personal union with Kingdom of Dublin919 CE – 952 CE
- Kingdom of Dublin in personal union with Kingdom of York919 CE – 952 CE
- Five Boroughs of the Danelaw was part of Kingdom of York940 CE – 942 CE
More states of British Isles →
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Kingdom of York. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-york
- MLA
- “Kingdom of York.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-york. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Kingdom of York.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-york.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Kingdom of York’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-york (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻